What are you watching?

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
After finishing all available seasons of Glow Up we started watching the new season of Queer Eye on Netflix!

giphy.gif
 
Thanks to the local library, my wife and I have been watching series 4 of Shakespeare and Hathaway, a somewhat tongue-in-cheek detective show set in Stratford. On the whole, the season has been pretty weak, but an episode we watched the other night has genre connections, so I thought I'd mention it. Our heroes are hired by a reclusive American SF writer, 'Greg Alban,' who has been penning a massively-popular multi-volume series about war, backstabbing politics, etc. based on Shakespeare's Henry VI. The last chapter of the last book has just be stolen and held for $5 million ransom.

Given that the setup was so clearly inspired by GRRM, I was half expecting that the solution would be that the author himself had 'stolen' the chapter so that he could avoid finishing the series. But--spoiler alert--that isn't what was going on.
 
Hulu

Well, I'm seeing a trend continue here with The Old Way.

If an actor can't act, or only has one mode, make sure the script includes a reason for it.

This movie is supposed to be a mashup of True Grit, Unforgiven, and The Accountant.

If you need a Western, it's a Western. There ya go.
 
I just binged Mr Inbetween which hit every button for me, black humour, incompetent crims, and a Soprano's style ending.

And thanks to the constant clips on Reels or tiktok or whatever the young folk use, I've started watching the Spanish show "Wrong side of the tracks" (Entrevias) on Netflix.

My god was this a show made for the Pub! Boomer/Gen X protagonists vs Millenial and Gen Z antagonists!! And the cast are sublime!
The Grandpa is like someone hammered every badwrongthoughtcrime into steel and fashioned a blade from it, but my favourite (and someone I wasn't aware of from the various clips) is Ezequial, the cop. It's like the Marloborough man fell off the wagon and is now masquerading as a corrupt cop. I swear I have found my spirit animal.
 
So, after binging Jupiter's Legacy- and finding out that Netflix canceled it- I'm not so down on D+ for removing Willow. At least they aren't leaving detritus of cancelled shows around for people to watch and be disappointed because they cancelled it.
 
Thursday night, my friend and I went to the Hollywood Theater for the 2nd night of the Portland Horror film festival. Most of the films were from Asia, but the night opened with a short called "Wait for it", set in the same world as the film "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon". It's a hilarious short, and the actor who played Leslie Vernon makes a cameo. The director did a Q&A afterword, and said they want to make more films about Leslie, and the reason it's been so long since the first film is because it didn't do well, so everyone involved were let down that it didn't do better (which I agree, because I loved the movie). There were two other short films (one set in Korea, the other in Taiwan). The full length films were Chabak from Korea, which was the world premiere (it has not even premiered in Korea yet). Honestly, it wasn't a horror movie, but a thriller. It was ok, but not something I'd have likely watched otherwise. The film from Japan, Love will Tear Us Apart, was really good. It could be serious, it could be funny, and it featured some time jumps. My friend and I both loved that one.

On the tv front, I finished the last 2 episodes of FBI: Most Wanted. The second to last one was rough to get through, but an excellent episode. Yesterday and Today, I watched Creed II/Creed III on Prime video. It's been years since I saw the first one, but decided not to rewatch it. The second one was great, with Creed facing off with Drago's son. Great throwback to the Rocky films there. III was also good, set years later. Jonathon Majors is great here, and he and Michael B Jordan have great chemistry on screen together. Stallone wasn't in the last one, and while his absence was a bummer, it made sense that he wasn't part of it. This film went back to Creed's past before Apollo's wife gave him a home, so not including Rocky was ok. It was an excellent trilogy of films.

I'm still watching Fubar; I just wanted to catch up on the Creed films for some time now, and seeing them on Prime made me decide to knock them out before continuing Fubar
 
Last night, my wife and I watched Alfred Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent (1940), courtesy of Netflix and the Criterion Collection. I’d never seen it before and found it quite engaging. The titular correspondent in Joel McCrea, an American crime reporter sent to Europe because his editor is frustrated by the material he has been getting from his stringers there. McCrea is soon involved with plots involving a murdered (or is he) Dutch politician who is one of only two people who knows the secret clauses of particular treaty. There is also a too-swift to be believable romance with the daughter of the head of a Universal Peace Party, well-played by Larraine Day, and various stratagems masterminded by another reporter, played by George Sanders (who was the Saint in a series of movies decades before Roger Moore). Some familiar character actors fill other parts, like Ed Gwenn and Ian Wolfe (who was in everything but will always be Mr. Atoz from Star Trek:TOS to me). Robert Benchley, who wrote some of the dialogue, has a small role as well. The film moves rapidly—in a way, it feels like three movies rolled into one—and has some interesting settings, like an abandoned windmill in the Netherlands. Some action scenes late in the movie, which take place in a sinking ‘flying boat’ aircraft, are surprisingly thrilling.

The movie was also interesting for the way that it has to walk certain political lines. When it was made, the U.S. was officially neutral in the war and there were strong isolationist sentiments in the country. The villains are pretty clearly meant to be Nazi agents, but the movie never says this outright, and one of them is presented as somewhat honorable—fighting, albeit underhandedly, for his country and willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good. The film ends with McCrea’s character broadcasting from London during the Blitz, exhorting America to arm itself and ‘keep the light of civilization going,’ sentiments that might have appealed to both interventionists and isolationists.

Hitchcock also shows how restraint can be more effective than an explicit treatment. In one short scene, a character is tortured for information. We never view the process, only hear his screams and groans and see the horrified reaction of onlookers, including some that side with the torturers. It’s a much better way to handle this IMO than the outright scenes of torture one sees today.

foreign correspondent.jpg
 
I've started watching Travelers on Netflix. Trying to see if I can justify continuing with the subscription.
 
So, I watched this and felt like it was the more maniacal version of Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx in Collateral.

But then, given the title and the makeup work, there's something astounding. Just imagine that Nicholas Cage put a little more work into his performance. Just a little. And imagine Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate. The look and poise of Cage and Pacino are so similar.

It'd be really cool to see them work a movie together. I don't know what the premise of such a movie could be, but The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus pulled off a clone-not-clone show to great effect.

 
Finished Fubar on the way to work this morning. The way it ended explains the title of the show. Either it was meant to end that way as a one of show, or they will do another season, which will be radically different than the first season. And damn! I had no idea the bad guy was Gabriel Luna! He was all buffed out with muscles here, and his voice was deeper.

Dove into the Flash's last season. 3 episodes in and I'm hooked. I can't believe who the villain is!
 
Lofgeornost said:
Last night, my wife and I watched Alfred Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent (1940), courtesy of Netflix and the Criterion Collection. I’d never seen it before and found it quite engaging. The titular correspondent in Joel McCrea, an American crime reporter sent to Europe because his editor is frustrated by the material he has been getting from his stringers there. McCrea is soon involved with plots involving a murdered (or is he) Dutch politician who is one of only two people who knows the secret clauses of particular treaty. There is also a too-swift to be believable romance with the daughter of the head of a Universal Peace Party, well-played by Larraine Day, and various stratagems masterminded by another reporter, played by George Sanders (who was the Saint in a series of movies decades before Roger Moore). Some familiar character actors fill other parts, like Ed Gwenn and Ian Wolfe (who was in everything but will always be Mr. Atoz from Star Trek:TOS to me). Robert Benchley, who wrote some of the dialogue, has a small role as well. The film moves rapidly—in a way, it feels like three movies rolled into one—and has some interesting settings, like an abandoned windmill in the Netherlands. Some action scenes late in the movie, which take place in a sinking ‘flying boat’ aircraft, are surprisingly thrilling.

The movie was also interesting for the way that it has to walk certain political lines. When it was made, the U.S. was officially neutral in the war and there were strong isolationist sentiments in the country. The villains are pretty clearly meant to be Nazi agents, but the movie never says this outright, and one of them is presented as somewhat honorable—fighting, albeit underhandedly, for his country and willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good. The film ends with McCrea’s character broadcasting from London during the Blitz, exhorting America to arm itself and ‘keep the light of civilization going,’ sentiments that might have appealed to both interventionists and isolationists.

Hitchcock also shows how restraint can be more effective than an explicit treatment. In one short scene, a character is tortured for information. We never view the process, only hear his screams and groans and see the horrified reaction of onlookers, including some that side with the torturers. It’s a much better way to handle this IMO than the outright scenes of torture one sees today.

View attachment 62277
Click to expand...

I've seen a lot of Hitchcock but only caught this one in the last year or so, it's a lot of fun.
 
Watched Creed III on Prime and while not as good as the first two it was still fun and certainly a lot better than any of the Rocky sequels (Rocky 3 and 4 are enjoyably bad films but the first is just a good 70s-style movie).

 
Amazon Prime

The time is purely a coincidence.

The Devil's Hour is incredible. Incredibly confusing and engaging. I so hope it's a mini series.

Only finished episode 1.
 
Continuing with the expanse. Rewatching Charlie Wilson’s war, which has one of my favorite characters of all time, Gust Avrakotos.
 
Voros said:
Watched Creed III on Prime and while not as good as the first two it was still fun and certainly a lot better than any of the Rocky sequels (Rocky 3 and 4 are enjoyably bad films but the first is just a good 70s-style movie).

Click to expand...

I actually liked it better than the first one, and the pathos of the conflict definitely rivaled the second, though nostalgia put the second over the top.
 
urbwar said:
Finished Fubar on the way to work this morning. The way it ended explains the title of the show. Either it was meant to end that way as a one of show, or they will do another season, which will be radically different than the first season. And damn! I had no idea the bad guy was Gabriel Luna! He was all buffed out with muscles here, and his voice was deeper.

Dove into the Flash's last season. 3 episodes in and I'm hooked. I can't believe who the villain is!
Click to expand...
It's a roller coaster. I'll be interested to hear what you think.
 
I just watched the première of The Flash.
Even won a t-shirt :shade:

Edit: chuckdee chuckdee and now I'm home with access to a normal keyboard.

The movie had a lot of humor (hit and miss), and whoever wrote this has paid attention during Spiderman No Way Home because there's a ton of fan-service, Easter eggs and nostalgia. The story also assumes you're at least familiar with the DCU and the Flash-i-verse. (Or did they do the Flash's origin story in a flashback in the JL movie?). The effects/action scenes were... not always convincing and kinda repetitive.

But! I didn't like the title character's character/actor; I prefer the guy who played in the series.

It's not my favourite DCU movie, but still leagues above Black Adam or the first Suicide Squad. YMMV

And there is a post-credit scene.
And the Imdb page is either incomplete, or half of the actors are actually AI generated renders. I mean, Alfred is not just a cameo but I can't find Jeremy Irons in the Cast list.

Never thought I'd see Superman fighting a giant mechanical spider.
Or Nicolas Cage as Superman.
 
Last edited:
rumble said:
Amazon Prime

The time is purely a coincidence.

The Devil's Hour is incredible. Incredibly confusing and engaging. I so hope it's a mini series.

Only finished episode 1.
Click to expand...
This was an amazing show. Looking forward to the next (and last) two seasons.
 
chuckdee said:
It's a roller coaster. I'll be interested to hear what you think.
Click to expand...
I'm on episode 8 right now. I think this season has been better than the last 2 or 3. Loved Red Death, and I've been pleased with the appearances of Batwoman and Dreamer on the show. I read episode synopsizes on wikipedia, so I know what's coming up, but that just made me more excited to see the rest of the season.

I really liked that Flash
put together is own team of rogues. Also, glad to see Grodd back as well
 
urbwar said:
I'm on episode 8 right now. I think this season has been better than the last 2 or 3. Loved Red Death, and I've been pleased with the appearances of Batwoman and Dreamer on the show. I read episode synopsizes on wikipedia, so I know what's coming up, but that just made me more excited to see the rest of the season.

I really liked that Flash
put together is own team of rogues. Also, glad to see Grodd back as well
Click to expand...
Glad that you liked it. The direction and writing has been off for me and Flash is backburnered too much IMO for this being the last season.

The one with Arrow was good and the one after and it seemed to be building well for the last few episodes though
 
chuckdee said:
I actually liked it better than the first one, and the pathos of the conflict definitely rivaled the second, though nostalgia put the second over the top.
Click to expand...

I agree Creed II is my favourite, I was surprised how much drama and emotion they were able to evoke for semi-sequel to the peak-silliness of the original films.
 
We watched Creed III on Prime tonight. It’s a good movie. I don’t think it’s quite as good as the RT score says it is. The first movie is still my favorite.
 
I like the horror movie The Descent a lot. Watched The Descent Part 2 last night. It was half-decent, but
the "twist" at the end makes the beginning nonsensical. If Ed is feeding humans to the crawlers, why didn't he feed Sarah to them at the beginning, rather than rescuing her and taking her to the hospital?
 
Thanks to the local library system, I've started watching the H.B.O. series of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. I read the books not long after the final volume of the first trilogy was published--so sometime in the early 2000s--and saw the 2007 movie adaptation of the first book. Despite that, I don't really have very strong memories of the series, particularly after the first book, though I recall being simultaneously impressed by it and turned off by its 'preachiness' in the later books. I also found Lyra an unsympathetic protagonist, in the end.

So far, I've seen a bit more than the first half of the first season, and I'm enjoying more than I expected, to tell the truth. It's lavishly made and the performances have been good. Also, the 'daimons' which everyone has are more affecting on screen than on the page, where (for me, at least) they tended just to turn into other characters who might have been human beings. When the words are coming out of a jackrabbit, or what have you, on the screen it's clear that this isn't just another human.

I was wondering about the decision to cast Lin-Manuel Miranda as Lee Scoresby--played by Sam Elliot in the movie--but so far he is doing a fine job. I don't think I'd ever seen the young actress playing Lyra, Dafne Keen, before, but I like her version of the character.
 
OK. I know this is a meme-thing, but the reason I'm posting this imgur link here is because I want to know what movie clip was posted in the comments.
You'll have to include the https and domain link. I can't get just the comment to work.

/gallery/tY7Gjpj/comment/2332219325
 
chuckdee said:
Glad that you liked it. The direction and writing has been off for me and Flash is backburnered too much IMO for this being the last season.

The one with Arrow was good and the one after and it seemed to be building well for the last few episodes though
Click to expand...
I burned through most of the season last night, but had to get some sleep as I worked a 12 Tuesday. I'm on the finale right now, and just wow. Honestly, if this wasn't the best season of the series, if not top 3. Even the typical CW melodrama stuff was better written. I think Mark/Chillblaine's personal arc was one of the best parts of the season. A lot of characters had great story arcs, but Mark stood out to me. Cecile had a great one as well. Given this is the end of the Arrowverse, it thankfully went out on high note.

Ironically, I still have the last season of Legends of Tomorrow to finish (as well as Batwoman, which I was in season 2 when I stopped), but the previous season was so-so for me, and the start of the first episode of the last season didn't grab me like i hoped. I'll finish it, but likely a little at a time. Going to be hard to top this though imho
 
E-Rocker said:
I like the horror movie The Descent a lot. Watched The Descent Part 2 last night. It was half-decent, but
the "twist" at the end makes the beginning nonsensical. If Ed is feeding humans to the crawlers, why didn't he feed Sarah to them at the beginning, rather than rescuing her and taking her to the hospital?
Click to expand...

I consider The Descent one of the best horror films of the last new millenium but never checked out the sequel as I figured it was a cash-in, which is to be expected in the genre but I didn't want to dilute the power of the original.
 
rumble said:
OK. I know this is a meme-thing, but the reason I'm posting this imgur link here is because I want to know what movie clip was posted in the comments.
You'll have to include the https and domain link. I can't get just the comment to work.

/gallery/tY7Gjpj/comment/2332219325
Click to expand...

No offense, but I find your instructions confusing, just post the full address.
 
Last edited:
rumble said:
I found this well-considered. Not necessarily a topic of discussion here, but I watched it.


If the mods want this removed, please LMK and I'll delete it.
Click to expand...


My one comment would be to not take your political insights from YT. It is a pigsty of sloppy thinking.
 
Voros said:
No offense, but I find your instructions confusing, just post the full address.
Click to expand...
I'm really sorry. I can't make the full address work.

https://www.imgur.com is the string you need to precede the URL text I provided.
For reference:
/gallery/tY7Gjpj/comment/2332219325
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top